The government of Bangladesh does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so, says a new report released by the United States on Thursday.
The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Bangladesh remained in Tier 2, according to the Bangladesh chapter of the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report.
"The government of Bangladesh is making significant efforts to meet the standards for the elimination of trafficking in person," US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas said.
READ: Targeted awareness, outreach efforts 'essential' to prevent human trafficking, says Blinken
He said the United States will continue to partner with both the government and civil society to end trafficking.
The government’s efforts included increasing prosecutions and convictions against traffickers, increasing investigations of cases involving Rohingya victims for the first time in recent years, and taking steps to lower some fees associated with the government-run recruitment agency.
The government extended its NAP (National Action Plan) to 2025 and published its first national study on human trafficking in Bangladesh.
READ: UN expert urges Bangladesh to step up efforts to prevent trafficking
However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas, the report claimed.
Although the government increased law enforcement efforts, it did not take adequate steps to address internal sex trafficking or official complicity, both of which remained pervasive; and it did not consistently hold accountable sub-agents conducting illegal recruitment operations, it said.
Victim protection efforts remained insufficient, including shelter services and availability, and the government identified and referred to care significantly fewer victims, the report added.
The government did not uniformly employ SOPs to identify trafficking victims, including among vulnerable populations, and authorities continued to conflate human trafficking and migrant smuggling in many cases, it says.
READ: Human trafficking only getting worse: Guterres
Furthermore, courts sentenced the majority of traffickers to fines rather than jail time, which weakened deterrence, undercut the government’s overall anti-trafficking efforts, and likely created security and safety concerns for victims, according to the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The 2012 Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act (PSHTA) criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of five years to life imprisonment and a fine of not less than 50,000 Bangladeshi Taka ($476).
Bonded labor was treated as a separate crime with lesser prescribed penalties of five to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of not less than BDT 50,000.
These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as kidnapping.
READ: Dhaka seeks smooth transfer of technological innovations to combat human trafficking
The government reported that it investigated 480 cases involving 2,033 suspects, including 39 sex trafficking cases, 269 labor trafficking cases, and 172 cases for unspecified forms of trafficking, and continued to investigate 712 cases from previous years.
This compared with the investigation of 594 cases involving 2,587 suspects and continued investigation of 449 cases during the previous reporting period.
The police initiated prosecution of 923 suspects – 14 for sex trafficking, 398 for forced labor, and 511 for unspecified forms of trafficking – and continued prosecution of 906 suspects from the previous reporting period.
This compared with prosecution of 620 suspects in the previous reporting period.